Warwickshire Police: PDAs do help crack crime

Posted by Gary Flood on Thu, 12/08/2010 - 08:20
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Warwickshire Police reports success from its participation in a sometimes inconclusive £50 million trial in the use of PDAs to aid front line policing.

Warwickshire was part of a series of tests of how things like mobiles and PDAs could help cut red tape and put more Bobbies on the beat, spurred by a critical 2004 study on Force bureaucracy, the Independent Review of Policing by Sir Ronnie Flanagan. In response some 10,000 handheld computers for police officers were made available - but not all pilots resulted in actual change, worried critics.

In contrast, Warwickshire, which secures a 'beat' of 764 square miles of with a population of over half a million people and which employs 1,000 officers and 950 civilian staff, sees real potential.

Working with specialist supplier Arqiva, it says a trial of 33 HTC 6500 handsets in three priority Safer Neighbourhood Teams, which provided rapid access to a wealth of practical information including email, maps and briefing documents via GPRS and airwave technology on a secure connection, has opened its eyes to the promise of mobile technology.

“We have been enthused by the way the technology has helped protect the community from harm as well as give daily re-assurance," customer contact manager, communications at the Force Tony Taylor, told PublicTechnology.net.

"You are dealing with data that is accurate and you've got a very clear idea of what your team are currently doing and where they are doing it. And it's more immediate: you don't have this time-lag of paperwork going on, so your crime pattern information and so on are all bang up to date," added Inspector Mark Payne, Warwickshire Police's business change manager.

For example, during the sometimes rowdy biker 'Bulldog Bash,' a Police Community Support Officer was called to a petrol station to deal with an inability to pay, checked the driver's details with his new PDA - and found that he was uninsured, had a record of absconding from forecourts and had a weapons marker. He kept the details on his PDA to show regular Force officers, who arrested the driver and impounded his vehicle.

The technology has proved versatile enough to help with major events, catching criminals and just day to day re-assurance, like informing a busy mother she had a puncture before she left the house.

"Officers also feel more empowered to carry out their own PNC and Incident checks, which also relieves the pressure on the force control room staff to concentrate on the more emergency/reactive type incidents," added Taylor.

The PDAs provide vital real-time information from the core Police National Computer application without having to radio in the control room - with one officer enabled to complete 120 checks in one 12-hour period.

Home Office estimates suggest that an officer with a PDA could save as much as 99 minutes per shift.